Methods for preparing and applying various coatings to the outer surfaces of food substrates prior to freezing and cooking, especially cut, raw potato pieces, are well known in the art. Such coatings are often applied to potato strips which are to become french fries in order to obtain one or more of the following objectives: (1) improved visual appearance of the finished (cooked) products, including color; (2) improved eating characteristics, especially crispness of the cooked product; (3) extended holding time during which the cooked product can be held or maintained while retaining preferred characteristics for consumption; (4) improved uniformity of the coating upon the food substrate; (5) improved surface smoothness of the cooked product; and (6) reduction of reticulation crystallization of or in the coating when applied to a food substrate and subsequently frozen.
The food substrate coating industry has for some time attempted to produce coatings for foods such as meat and vegetables, particularly potatoes, in the form of a substantially clear coat. Such “clear coats” are desirable because of their ability or potential of maintaining or enhancing the food substrate's natural appearance to the consumer, while also imparting other desired characteristics to the reconstituted product, particularly increased surface crispness and a moist, mealy, or fluffy interior. Further, such coatings increase the holding time or post-preparation time at which the cooked or reconstituted product can be maintained prior to consumption by a consumer.
To this end, food coatings have been developed previously that were basically clear in appearance when applied to potato strips that were then initially deep-fried (parfried) and frozen for storage prior to finish cooking (i.e., “reconstitution”) and consumption. However, developing a substantially clear coat for potato substrates which increases crispness and maintains the increased crispness of the final cooked product over an extended period of time, without impairment or loss of flavor or visual appearance and without the formation of what is known as “reticulation crystallization”, has posed a significant difficulty for the industry.
Various dry mix coating compositions which can be dissolved or suspended in an aqueous medium, i.e., are water dispersible, to form a slurry have previously been developed and applied to potato substrates to obtain improved results. Many if not all such prior art potato substrate coatings include at least some rice flour, which has been increasingly regarded as desirable because it enhances crispness without introducing a cereal flavor.
Reticulation crystallization as known in the food coating industry can be described as the formation of small white spots/bumps, which usually occur within about twenty-four to seventy-two hours after freezing of the coated frozen food substrates. This does not go away when the coated food is finish-cooked or reconstituted, and makes the product visually undesirable to consumers. In addition, such reticulation also causes the frozen coated food substrates when reconstituted (via gradient heat, microwave energy, or deep-fat frying) to develop a darker color, rough surface texture, uneven surface coating, decreased crispness, decreased holding time, and poor tooth compaction characteristics, all of which are very important to consumers of the final cooked product. The formation of reticulation occurs when food coatings utilize concentrations of more than about 10% rice flour of the type conventionally used in the industry, i. e., that which is sold commercially as “80 USS mesh size.”
Conventional rice flour utilized in food coatings is prepared by milling long, medium, or short-grain varieties of rice to various particle size ranges as determined by screens or meshes having various defined size ratings according to United States Standards (USS). The mesh or screen size rating for the type of rice flour conventionally used in the food coating industry is that which is sold commercially as “80 USS mesh” size, but this actually includes a fairly wide range of differing particle sizes, many of which are larger than #80 USS mesh size screen, and some of which are smaller.
However, food coating formulators have not previously been able to utilize concentrations of rice flour at much more than about 10% without having the coatings develop an undesirable amount of “reticulation crystallization” after being frozen upon a food substrate.
Accordingly, because rice flour is inexpensive and is capable of providing desirable coating characteristics, there is a need within the industry for a food coating which contains more than 10% total rice flour but does not reticulate when applied to and frozen upon food substrates but does impart improved color, surface smoothness, crispness, and holding time characteristics without sacrificing visual appearance, flavor, and tooth compaction characteristics.
With reference to prior patents illustrating prior art coatings as noted above, U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,759 to Sloan et al. discloses a coating composition that contains corn starch along with potato starch and rice flour in order to allegedly achieve a substantially clear and crisp potato coating having a holding time over an extended period.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,976,607 to Higgins et al. discloses the use of a substantial amount of modified cornstarch in a potato substrate coating to allegedly increase crispness of a final coated potato product, along with an amount of rice flour that is said to reduce or balance the crispness characteristic imparted through use of the modified cornstarch.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,918 to Melvej discloses a food coating composition for use on potatoes which contains a high percentage of corn starch in relation to rice flour, in order to obtain a coating composition which is said to impart increased crispness and holding time to a coated potato substrate product.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,435 to Sloan et al. discloses a process for preparing frozen coated potato products in which an aqueous starch slurry comprised of a combination of modified ungelatinized potato starch, modified ungelatinized cornstarch, rice flour, and other optional ingredients, such as flavorings and seasonings, are utilized to allegedly improve the crispness of the final-cooked coated potato product while maintaining the tenderness of its interior. This patent also states that its disclosed coating, when placed upon a frozen potato strip, can be reconstituted within a conventional oven to produce an acceptable product without decreased flavor characteristics.
Reference is also made to the substantially improved coating disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 09/778,470, filed Feb. 7, 2001, by the same inventors, which teaches the use of a high percentage of rice component (flour and/or starch) along with a large dextrin component, that provides generally excellent results.